Labeling machine



Feb. 8, 1949.

Filed May 9, 1945 R. J. NEWMAN ETAL LABELING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 I Inventors m I W By W I, W

Attorney LABELING MACHINE Filed May 9, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 m J By fttorney Inventor: v

R. J. NEWMAN I ET AL Feb. 8, 1949.

LABELING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed May 9, 1945 Inventor: 0304M By M AJJM:

Patented Feb. 8, 1949 LABELING MACHINE Robert John Newman, Enfieldi. and. Dagobert Siegfried. Freund, London, England assignors of one-third to Edward Albert. Baker, London,

England Application May 9:, 1945, Serialv No..592,856' In. Great Britain May 19, 1944 2 Claims.

invention. relates. to labelling machines. and

particularly tomachi-nes tor applying labels to packages and. containers. such as glass. bottles and has for its chief object the provision of an improved form of such a machine which is of rigid and inexpensive. construction and is especially suitable for apuolying labels to. glass bottles. and like containers. of; the small variety.

In accordance with the invention there is providedan improved form oi. labelling machine comprising a. pair of gum plates or pickers. mounted for reciprocating movement e. g. in a horizontal plane, and adapted after picking-up or collecting a. label from a pile. to bring. thesame into a; transfor position the label may be appliedv to the package or container as, for example, by

relative movement, transversely oi. the reciprocating movement, between the package and the label.

In order that the said. invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect, the same will now be more rully described with reference to the accompanying drawings. in which:

Fig. 1 is a. side view, partly in section, of one form of. the machine produced according to the invention;-

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the machine shown in Fig; 1; and

- Fig. 3 is afront view of the said machine.

Inthe form. of'the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings, the. machine shown. comprising: a. framework I provided at the upper part. thereoi with a g-umming or adhesive applying device a, a label pile b and a label applyingmeans disposed on the side of the label pile opposite that on which the adhesive applying device located.

The gumming or adhesive applying device. may be of any suitable formand is here shown as com-- prising a. gumor adhesive-containing trough l havinga positively driven gum-pick roller 2 rotatably mounted; therein with its peripheral surface di-pping. into the adhesive and engagingwith the surface of a freely-mounted transfer roller 3.

The latter engages with another transfer roller 4 of smaller diameter and the gum or adhesiveapplying roller 5- is arranged: and mounted to receive the adhesive from the roller 4 and to apply the same in the format a thin, evenly spread coating to the gum plates or pickers. which, as is hereinafter described, are presented to or brought into contact with the lower part of the roller 5' where it projects downwardly through an opening 6 formed in a part of the trough l which is partitioned ofi from the adhesive-containing. part thereof. The pick-up roller 2 may be driven in any suitable manner and is shown mounted on a spindle provided at one end thereof with asprocket wheel T adapted to be rotated continuously by a sprocket chain sprocket. wheels 'lbandlo, the. latter being mounted in position on the main driving shaft B.

Adjacent one end oi the trough viz. the right hand end as shown in .E-ig, 1, there is arranged the pile b of the labelsto be applied- Such labels. are contained in a label box awhich. is open at its. lower end and the labels are arranged therein in superposed relation with their faces uppermost. The. label box may bev slidably mounted in vertical guides 9. and is adapted to. be raised and lowered, as hereinafter described, through a connection with a vertically disposed rod l0 having, its lower end connected, e., g. by a pin. and slot connection, with a lever l2. which is. pivoted to. the framework at l3. and is; adapted periodically to be displaced aboutitspivotby a cam on which a roller 16. on the lever rests.

On the side. of the pile b. opposite that on which the. gumming device. is. located, there is. arranged a cradle or support. for the package. or con, tainer (shown in dotted lines. at. A) to be labelled. The said cradle. or support is preferably mounted in position on the. upper end of a vertically disposed rod. 2.I capable. of. being displaced; longitudinally as, for example, by alever 22 pivoted on the tramework l at. 23 and provided with a roller 24 bearing. against, a cam 25.. disposed coaxially with. the. cam l5 and adapted to. be driven synchronously therewith. by the main driving shaft B;

Mounted for horizontal reciprocatory move.- ments beneath the gum-applying device and the. label pile is a structure. or carriage provided withv a pair of gum plates or pickers. Said structure or carriage is. indicated at3l1 and is mounted for movement on a. pair of laterally spaced guides or guide rods 31 extending across the machine and suitably secured in position at their ends to the. framework. At its forward end the structure 3!! is provided with a. pair of. laterally spaced and forwardly-extending, horizontally-disposed rods 33 and 3.4 on which the picker or gum plates. 35 and. 36 are mounted so as to be. capable of angular movement thereon. The picker or gum plates, are mounted. imposition so that they nor..- mally liein a horizontal or substantially horizontal plane and so that they extend across. the machime and towards one another with their opposed.

side or front edges spaced. from one another to.

provide a gap 40 therebetween, which gap, when the plates are moved into their extreme, forward. position, is. located immediately above the package or container to be labelled. v

The structure 30 carrying the gum plates or pickers is adapted to be moved back and forth so as to. carry the gum plates from a position be heath the gum-applying device to a. label-transfor position over the package. or container. to be labelled and back again and, for this purpose, the

structure. may be connected. as for ei'rample, by la which extends around the ()0 a pln-and-slot connection with the upper end of a lever orarm 42 which is pivotally mounted in position on the framework at 43 and. is provided with a roller 44 engaging with a further cam such as the cam 45 provided on the main driving shaft B. Such cam is formed so that the gum plates or pickers are caused to pause at least once during each forward movement as they pass from one limiting position, viz. the gumming position, to the other, viz. the label-transfer position, the arrangement being such that the pause is caused to occur as they arrive in a position be? neath the label pile.

In operation, the gum plates or pickers are reciprocated so that they'are caused to move from the extreme position shown in Fig. l to a position over the package or container to be labelled and back again. As they move forward from the position indicated in Fig. 1, they pass firstly under and in contact with the gumining or adhesive applying roller so that their upper surfaces become coated with adhesive. Shortly thereafter they are brought into a position beneath the label pile b where they are caused to pause and while in this position the aforesaid open-ended label box 8 is, by the action of the cam and rod l0, lowered-in order to bring the underside of the lowermost label into contact with the upper and adhesively coated surfaces of the said picker plates. By the continued rotation of the cam l5, the label box is then raised clear of the picker plates leaving the lowermost label adhering to the latter which, by the continued rotation of the cam 45, are then caused to resume their forward movement which continues until the picker plates and the collected or adhering label arrive in the label-transfer position where that part of the label bridging the gap 46 will be disposed vertically over the package or container A to be labelled and the picker plates are again caused to dwell for a short period of time.

'In'the last'mentioned position, the collected label is applied to the package or container by imparting to the latter a movement in a direction transverse to the plane of movement or reciprocation of the picker plates. For this purpose, the

package or container may be raised, by the action of the cam on the lever. 22, so that it is caused to move upwardly through the gap 48 and, in so doing, to lift the label off the picker plates. As already mentioned, the latter are pivotally mounted in position on the rods 33 and 34. Preferably, the picker plates are normally yieldingly held in a horizontal or substantially horizontal position by suitable springs and, as the package or container moves upwardly into and through the gap til, the, picker plates will be tilted upwardly as shown by. the dotted lines in Fig. 3, while the label is being drawn or slid off the picker plates andltransferred to the package or container. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, means is provided for yieldingly holding the central portion of the label against the surface of the package ,or container as the latter rises and the transfer is effected. For this'purpose, the machine -may be provided with an upwardly extending guide dii'having slidably mounted theerin a longir tudinally or vertically displaceable'rod 49 which is pressed downwardly by a spring 50 and formedat its lower end with a pad 52, the ar-- rangement being such that in the lowermost posi-- tion of the rod the pad is disposed a short distance above thepackage or container and is free; to-rise'inbppo'sition to its spring'as the container ment of the container orforapplying' pressure 7 to the label now in position on such container.

is raised. If desired, means may be provided for e,

For this purpose, a pair of pads 54 and 55 may be mounted in position as shown in Fig. 3 so that they are located one on each side of the pad 52 in a fixed position adjacent the end of the upward travel of the container.

We claim.

1. A machine for applying labels to packages or containers, comprising a movable container support, means for reciprocating said container support, adhesive applying means, label transfer and applying means, a label pile interposed between said adhesive applying means and said label transfer and applying means, a label gumzning and picker device, and means for reciprocating said gumming and picker device in a direction which is transverse to the direction of movement of said container support so that said gumming and picker device in moving toward said container support first receives adhesive from said adhesive applying means, and is then caused to collect a label from said pile and to bring said label to a container carried upon said container support, and means for'timing the movement of said container support and said label transfer and applying means so that the label is transferred from the said label gumming and picker device to the container carried upon said container support during the movement of the said container support and container.

2. A' machine for applying labels to packages or containers, comprising a. vertically movable container support, means for raising andlowering said container support, vertically movable label transfer and applying means set above said container support, adhesive-applying means, a vertically movable label-pile support interposed between said container support and said adhesiveapplying means, means for raising and lowering said label pile support and a label pile carried thereon, at least one label-gumming and picker plate, means for moving said picker plate towards and away from said container support in a substantially horizontal plane, beneath said adhesive applying means and said label pile support, means for causing said plate to pause beneath said label pile so that when said pile support is lowered the lowermost label of said pile is brought into contact with the adhesive on said plate, and retained upon said plate when the lowered label pile is raised, and means for'timing the movment of said plate in relation to the movement of said container support and said label transfer and applying means so that the label is transferred from the said label gumming and picker plate to a container carried by said container support during movement of said container support and container.

ROBERT JOHN NEWMAN. DAGOBERT SIEGFRIED FREUND.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 597,358 Pettee Jan. 25, 1898 620,534 Beauregard et al. Feb. 28, 1898 632,519 Ermold Sept. 5, 1899 893,317 Ermold July 14, 1908 

